AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire Boston-based Modella AI as drugmakers continue to increase their use of artificial intelligence to accelerate research and development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Modella AI said its foundation models and AI agents will be integrated into AstraZeneca’s oncology research programs to support clinical development and biomarker discovery. The AstraZeneca-Modella AI acquisition expands a multi-year collaboration between the two companies that was first announced in July.
“Oncology drug development is becoming more complex, more data-rich and more time-sensitive,” said Gabi Raia, chief commercial officer at Modella AI, adding that joining AstraZeneca will allow the company to deploy its technology across global trials and clinical settings.
AstraZeneca said the deal marks the first acquisition of an artificial intelligence company by a large pharmaceutical group. Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, AstraZeneca Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin said the acquisition would “supercharge” the company’s quantitative pathology and biomarker discovery capabilities by bringing more data and AI expertise in-house.
Sarin said Modella’s technology will help accelerate AstraZeneca’s efforts to make pathology more quantitative by using computers to analyse biopsy samples and link protein data with clinical outcomes. This approach is intended to support the development of highly targeted biomarkers and therapies. The AstraZeneca-Modella AI acquisition also allows the company to retain Modella’s data, models and AI talent internally following what Sarin described as a successful “test drive” partnership.
The transaction was announced alongside several other AI-related agreements revealed at the healthcare conference, including a $1 billion collaboration between NVIDIA and Eli Lilly to build a new research lab using advanced AI chips.
Sarin said AI tools could also help select patients for clinical trials more efficiently, improving the likelihood of success while reducing development costs. She added that 2026 is expected to be another catalyst year for AstraZeneca, with multiple late-stage clinical readouts planned across therapy areas.
AstraZeneca is targeting annual revenue of $80 billion by 2030.
